SEOUL — North Korea conducted a three-day series of weapons tests starting Monday that involved various new weapons systems, including ballistic missiles armed with cluster-bomb warheads, according to North Korean state media. The tests also included demonstrations of anti-aircraft weapons, electromagnetic weapons systems and carbon-fiber bombs, state media said.

Among the systems tested were cluster-munition warheads mounted on the nuclear-capable Hwasong-11 ballistic missiles, according to the state media account. The Hwasong-11 missiles resemble Russia's Iskander missiles in design, built for low-altitude, maneuverable flight intended to evade missile defense systems, the report said. North Korean state media said the short-range Hwasong-11 armed with cluster-munition warheads could destroy targets covering an area of 6.5 to 7 hectares.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected at least one projectile launched Tuesday from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. On Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs said it detected North Korea firing multiple missiles from an eastern coastal area, marking the second round of launches in two days. The missiles launched Wednesday flew between 240 and 700 kilometers before falling into the sea, according to the Joint Chiefs.

Jang Do-young, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing that the South Korean military was analyzing the launches and sharing information with U.S. and Japanese counterparts. Jang declined to assess the North's claims of progress in its military capabilities.

Japan's Defense Ministry said none of the weapons fired Wednesday entered waters within its exclusive economic zone. The United States military said the North Korean launches on Tuesday and Wednesday posed no immediate threat to the U.S. or its allies.

In a Foreign Ministry statement issued Tuesday night, Jang Kum Chol, first vice minister at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said "South Korea would always remain the North's most hostile enemy state."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suspended virtually all diplomacy with Seoul and Washington after his nuclear talks with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Since then, Kim has accelerated the development of nuclear-capable missiles that threaten U.S. allies in Asia and the U.S. mainland. He has also pursued closer ties with Russia, China and other countries embroiled in confrontations with the United States.